SOUTHINGTON - The Southington Education Foundation challenges you to â€śGet your Trivia Onâ€ť Nov. 1 at Southington High School for the Inaugural Community Trivia Bee.

â€śAs we approach our tenth anniversary, weâ€™ve decided to change things up a bit,â€ť said Jerry Belanger, who co-chairs the event with Paula Knight. â€śWeâ€™ve moved our annual community spelling bee from the spring to the fall and revitalized it as a trivia night.â€ť

The Community Trivia Bee will be held at 7 p.m. this year in the auditorium of Southington High School at 720 Pleasant Street. Team sign-ups begin at 6:30 p.m. The deadline for teams to register for the Trivia Bee is Oct. 19.

â€śLook into your groups and seek out those trivia experts,â€ť said Belanger. â€śPut that team of three or four together and join in the fun as we launch an evening of trivia challenge. Name your team, decide on your team attire, or bring a poster or banner highlighting your theme.â€ť

Belanger said it will be a â€śgeneral triviaâ€ť contest. Teachers, students, parents, community groups are all invited to participate. Teams are also encouraged to invite family members and friends to cheer their team on during the event.

â€śWe are also going to make it interactive for the audience,â€ť said Belanger. â€śThey will be able to play along with the teams and there will also be raffles.â€ť

â€śMonies raised will enable us to continue to fund innovative programming in Southington Public Schools,â€ť said Belanger. â€śLast year we had 16 teams participate in our Spelling Bee and we raised $6,000.â€ť

According to the Southington Education Foundationâ€™s website, the non-profit organization is â€ścommitted to enriching the minds and lives of Southingtonâ€™s most impressionable community members - its school students.â€ť

â€śOur mission is simple,â€ť the website states. â€śWe hope to instill a life-long love of learning in our children through innovative and creative initiatives that expand upon existing educational opportunities.â€ť

Belanger said one program that the Southington Education Foundation has supported recently is the Greg Tang Family Math Night.

â€śThis event was held in May and another will be held later in November,â€ť said Belanger. â€śIt is open to students, teachers and parents and uses games to promote math concepts.â€ť

The Southington Education Foundation operates independently of the Board of Education and local tax dollars. Members work to secure funding for projects that would otherwise not be available for local schoolchildren.

The cost to register for the Community Trivia Bee is $100 per individual or $300 per team. To download a registration form, visit southingtoneducationfoundation.org.